Episode 113 | From Surviving to Thriving: Leadership Habits Every Principal Needs

LWH Closing: That's a wrap for today's episode of Lead with Hope. Remember, the world needs your leadership and change starts with you. Fuel your life with HOPE, your purpose, and shine your light for others. ⁓ this episode inspired you, I'd be so grateful if you could take a moment to give us a five-star rating and share it. ⁓

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Today I'm excited to welcome Todd Bloomer to the Lead with Hope podcast. He is a former New Yorker, still celebrating the Knicks NBA championship, and he's now a Texan living in San Antonio. As a former middle and high school principal, Todd now coaches principals for the Archdiocese of San Antonio, and he is happily married and he has five kids and a dog. Before we wrap up today's episode, I have a complimentary resource that I want to share with you today. you're a school or a district leader looking to strengthen your leadership, improve communication, and build a thriving culture, the Hope-Fueled Culture System was created for you. After more than 20 years serving as a school social worker, a principal, and a superintendent,

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Dr. Brandi Kelly: ⁓ his first book, The Blueprint, is soon to be paired with the Blueprint two point ⁓ As a coach and a speaker, Todd enjoys sharing lessons that he's learned by stepping into what he calls the administrative quickstand and allowing educators to not only survive but to thrive. Welcome to the show, Todd. I've gathered the strategies, tools, and resources to help you lead resilient teams and create schools where both educators and students can thrive. Inside this resource, you're going to find practical leadership tools that you can use immediately. There is a communication template in there.

Todd: Thank you, ma'am. Appreciate you being I appreciate you the opportunity tonight.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Absolutely. So Todd, what else do you want to share about your background? Strategies for navigating difficult conversations, a first day agenda, leadership resources, and so much more. These are tools designed to save you time while helping you lead with greater confidence, clarity, and purpose. If you're ready to move beyond simply managing the day-to-day and start building a culture rooted in hope, trust,

Todd: You know, I I grew up in the great state of New York and when I graduated from college, we were in a hiring freeze and ⁓ packed up my car and moved to Houston, Texas. And it was an adventure. And ⁓ didn't know a soul in Texas. ⁓ you know, I'd never been to Texas. I still remember the principal saying to me, you know, what do you know about Houston? And I was like, Not much. And I remember going upstairs and telling my mother, because this was in the late nineties, you know, before really the internet or cell phones, and I really went up to my mom and dad.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Okay. Resilience and high expectations, this is a great place to start. You'll find the link in today's show notes. Download your complimentary hope-fueled culture system ⁓ begin taking those small intentional steps that create a lasting impact. Because hope isn't just something we feel, it's something we build. And when leaders lead with hope, they create cultures where everyone can grow.

Todd: And said, ⁓ I got a job and they were so excited. And they're like, where? And I was like, Texas. And my ⁓ you know, my dad probably looked at me like I was crazy, like I was a man on the moon. A couple weeks later, loaded up my car, drove to Houston, thought I'd stay a year, loved it, loved the people, the culture. ⁓ came back for a year two, met my wife. ⁓ kind of the rest is history. Stayed in Texas and moved over to San Antonio a few years later. And so kind of up for adventure. I'm always up for for, you know.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Mm-hmm. Belong and thrive.

Todd: ⁓ hey, you wanna go? Let's go. I'm the first one in to to join to join in for a journey. And that was kind of something that's interesting and unique about me, I think.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: life is definitely an adventure, It's it's what you make it. And so when you think about Texas, I have to ask this question. I've been to San Antonio, I've been to the Riverwalk there. Do you have a favorite place in San Antonio that you like to go?

Todd: absolutely. ⁓ my wife and I, when ⁓ I retired from being a high school principal, I lived a mile down the street from my house ⁓ from my ⁓ school. ⁓ I was taking a big leap of faith leaving my favorite job. Like I left on a high. I left when when like I had job satisfaction. I'd hired all the folks that I needed to hire, parents were happy, we were trending in every direction. And I knew that I probably would never be able to duplicate again. So I stepped away. And so did not want to live a mile down the road from my school if the leap of faith didn't work out. And in a good leap of faith, when you trust God and you put your faith in God, He will take care of you. And I was kind of a doubter at the time. So my wife and I moved. We moved to downtown San Antonio. We live off the Pearl in downtown San Antonio, which is off of the Riverwalk. And so really my favorite part of San Antonio is the Pearl. And I love to get up every morning and we can talk about it at some point. I love to get up every morning and run on the river walk before I start my day. And there's nothing that brings me closer to God. There's nothing that gets me more prepared for my day. There's nothing that helps fill my bucket both spiritually and ⁓ physically ⁓ than running on the river walking. So if you were to come to town, I'd take you over to the Pearl. There's plenty of places to get great food, ⁓ margaritas, some great country music, ⁓ fajitas, ⁓ good old ⁓ hamburger, all kinds of good stuff here at the Pearl. The really my favorite places to go. And my wife and I, we haven't been ⁓ tired of it. We've lived here for over a year. We probably go there three or four times a week.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: I my husband and I visited San Antonio and we definitely went to the Pearl, we went to the Riverwalk, and as a ⁓ a tourist, I can say beautiful, beautiful area. And if you haven't been and you're listening to this today, if you're planning a trip, yeah, you gotta go check that out. It's a beautiful place to visit and obviously a beautiful place to live.

Todd: it's gorgeous. Now it's tough. The other day the heat index was a hundred and thirteen. ⁓ that was, you know, I don't I don't tan well. That was a tough day. but ⁓ y you figure it out. Like you you figure it out.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Yeah. Right, absolutely. Now in San Antonio, is that where you drove the Uber and coached leaders?

Todd: Yes, how about that? So when I retired from being a principal, I found out real quick that I couldn't sit around. Like I thought, wow, this would be great. I'll sleep in, I'll go to the pool, I'll work out. And within like a week or so, I think my wife was tired of me just lingering around because she works from home. So I picked up Uber and I decided that I would, you know, drive Uber. Like, you know, you can drive whenever you want. You can, you know, I know the city, I know where people like to eat and you know, go have a good time. So I figured I could be pretty good at that. And it got me thinking, Could I be a principal coach? Because my ultimate goal was to really coach principals and really, you know, work with principals, share with them some of the things I've learned the hard way and share some experiences with them. And it got me thinking about Uber, the concept of Uber. Like if you're gonna go to the airport and you don't want to drive, you hit up Uber and someone comes and picks you up. You may use Uber four times while you're on vacation, and then you may never use Uber again. And it got me thinking: could I be a principal coach? Could I coach people through

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Todd: interview processes, could I coach people through difficult conversations? Could I coach people through, you know, how to deal with just all kinds of situations and then maybe never hear from them again. Like like not a long-term contract, not a big commitment, not financially something that is like thousands of dollars. But could you could you agree to a price where for an hour I could talk to you three times a week, once a week, once a month, or never again. And so I've kind of put that concept out there and I've kind of built a little brand of people that just kind of hit me up.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Yeah. ⁓ huh.

Todd: You know, when they need that ride, when they need the ride to figure it out. Because sometimes in your district you have mentors and you have people, but sometimes you just need an outsider to be able to talk to you and someone to say, Hey, look, I don't know Julie or Fred or or anybody, but this is my take on it. And have you thought about this, this, and this? And right now with the summertime, I'm really I got a I got a lot of business with folks that are trying to get their first principal job or their first to principal pr sister principal job. And from looking at a resume to going through an interview on a phone or a Zoom.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Mm-hmm.

Todd: it's been pretty it's been enjoyable to me to be honest with you and it's been pretty successful for people that are landing jobs. And so I took that Uber concept of like on demand and have kind of turned that into my way of being able to help and give back to to people. And also at the end of the day, it's affordable and it it it meets the needs. It can be a quick phone call in the morning, lunch or after work. And so that's kind of you know kind of a kind of a neat thing and kind of something I didn't see a lot of people there doing.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: And, you're you're doing what you love, you're adding value to people, ⁓ and you're picking up a little bit extra cash while you do it. So it's a win-win all the way around. I think about my journey from social worker to principal to superintendent. ⁓ And Todd, when I first started, I didn't start with a mentor a coach. ⁓ And If I'm being honest, when I think back about those early days, I could have really benefited from something like that. I could have benefited from somebody in my corner that was encouraging me, holding me accountable as well, sure that I was growing and doing the right things, but also encouraging me and pointing out the strengths that we all have. We all have ⁓ gifts that God has given And if we can lean into those gifts, I think so much more is possible. But unfortunately, in leadership back then and still today, districts are not consistently investing in principles so that they can have that coach, that person that's helping them be the best version of themselves.

Todd: as a principal and if I could go back in time, I would on day two of each of the principalships, middle school and high school, on day two I would have lined up a coach, whether I had to ⁓ you know, petition my superintendent to be able to help me or paid for it out of pocket because the value that I've reached. I mean, we've all been there. We we we ascend to spots based on we surround ourselves with like great people and we sit ⁓ sit with winners, conversation's different, you know, like we we we naturally find those folks. If you're not that person that naturally goes out and seeks them, you know, I I give you the keys and I say, Hey, good luck. Call me if you need me. And all of a sudden it's November and you've got no idea why to call somebody and like you're you're you're you're you're you're I don't know if the words ashamed or you're just ⁓ maybe timid to reach out and say, I don't know. But we've all been there before. We've all struggled with this. And so it's not that. It's like, hey, reach out, I'm here to help. And so I've tried my best not to say call me if needed. But really tried to just reach out because I know you don't know what no what October feels like as a high school principal, because I do. It's the longest month of the entire year. Here's all the things that are gonna happen. And honestly, the Blueprint 2.0, the book that's gonna be the companion to my first book, is a month by month guide to what principals should focus on each month. And I've learned that the hard way. And so that's kind of my my my coaching piece. If I can't be there with you, here's all the things that that October brings from a lens of operations.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: No.

Todd: from campus culture into taking care of you, the three things I think that really make a good principle. But to your point, if you don't have someone that is in your corner uplifting you, holding you accountable, sharing with you success, giving you honest feedback, role playing with you, you're really missing an opportunity. And if you're listening to our podcast, I would go talk to your superintendent and say, is there someone that you can give me that could be this person? Because everybody talks about a great mentorship program.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Right.

Todd: But at the end of the day, they're really not strong because that person who's mentoring you is probably overwhelmed. They probably have a million other things to do it. They're probably leading a school themselves. And if you don't have a great rapport, you may say, like, hey, I'm good and and you got smoke coming out of your ears and your eyes are flying all over the place. You're no more good than I am. So it's just one of the things if I could do it over again, I would I would definitely get a coach on day two.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah and ⁓ and to your point, Todd, I think that fit is everything. some people they're just gonna click with you from day one. and and finding that right fit is really important. Because the other thing I want to point out is that as leaders, we're human beings. We carry an invisible weight. That invisible weight for me was grief. my my brother Brandon drowned when I was 15, and then my mom died of cancer, and then life just keeps going on and on and on, and we carry that invisible weight. And so Todd, I'm curious, reflecting back over your life, is there an adversity that kind of has shaped or had an impact on your leadership?

Todd: Yeah, and while I don't have a a a sad story like your brother, ⁓ really the adversity that I have was having to look myself in the mirror my first year as a principal and realize that I was failing. And realize that the culture that the campus had was was was was going down the drain, realizing that that my lack of of consistent communication was causing issues. ⁓ when I was pointing fingers at others, I had to really just realize that it was me. And I had really then ⁓ come to this, you know, come to Jesus type of moment with myself to say, I'm not a quitter. Like I worked really hard to get here and I'm not gonna be defined by failure. And I was at a great middle school, like tremendous middle school. And I knew I could take it even a step further. And the principal that was there previously had left it in perfect shape. And all of a sudden I was messing it up. And it was one of those things that if I didn't reach out to a couple of different people and if I didn't look myself in the mirror, and if I didn't say I have to change. I wouldn't be where I am today. And I'm happy that year two was so much better, year three was great, year four was perfect, you know, ⁓ year five I became a high school principal and I learned so much from there. So the adversity of really facing resistance, ⁓ questioning my my work ethic, questioning my integrity, questioning my communications, all things that I thought I was really good at. Like I was a dang good assistant principal. I was a phenomenal coach, I was a great teacher. And I'm not gonna be defined by being a failure as a principal, but first semester, my principal year, I probably need handwritten thank you no or handwritten apology notes to many of the people. Now, there were some people that gave me some grief and stuff, you know, so I mean there's more to the story, but I had to look and say, what am I causing? How can I s how can I fix this? And where can I spend time either apologizing or making right for anything that I may have offended people by or and so I had to really look in the mirror to figure out. Like who do I who am who am I as a leader and how do I want to be defined?

Dr. Brandi Kelly: And I always say change starts with me, It's inside out, it it starts with the leader you model. and I believe that we have to get really honest with ourselves ⁓ and like you said, yourself in the mirror, self-reflect, ⁓ build that self-awareness the assessment is one of those assessments it helps you to understand. your style, your default setting. if you're like me, I'm a DI. So ⁓ pretty direct. ⁓ for some of those folks out there that are maybe S's or C's, they don't know how to take me. ⁓ it's my responsibility to communicate in such a way as the leader that they're going to consume that communication, They don't have to change for me. I need to change for them and model what that looks like. And It doesn't happen overnight, as you pointed out. It's a process, not an event. But I do believe that there are very specific things that we can do as leaders to ⁓ ourselves, but it starts with knowing ourselves.

Todd: You're absolutely right. I'm I'm a New Yorker. Everything I do is just fast paced. And that rubs people the wrong way sometimes. And I had to realize I have to slow down. I have to be quieter. I have to listen more. I have to walk at a slower pace. I have to position my body to look at people when I'm doing a million different things in my mind. And I had to realize that I have to give you the attention by looking you in the eye, but stopping, listening to the conversations. And I was on on on going a million miles an hour.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Mm-hmm.

Todd: But everyone's like, what's going on here? This guy's a tornado. And I was like, no, this is just me. And early on, if I would have explained myself better, people would have had a better opportunity to get to know me, then I think I could have ⁓ solved a lot of these issues. But you're 100% right. I had to reflect, I had to make sure people knew me, and then I had to adapt to the different people, leadership team, princ ⁓ teachers, parents, all kinds of things. So I was like a chameleon. Whatever group I was in, I was having to blend with whatever they needed. And most of it was slowing down, listening, smiling, looking at people in the eye, positioning my feet. Like I really realized, like if I just position my body, so I'm not turned at the side, but I'm like positioned my body to look you in the eye. Like we've all seen, like when I come into an office, I don't sit at my my my desk. I come around and I try to sit with you. And that offended some people early on. Like, well, what what's and I was like, okay, let me let me just explain. Would you like me to sit here? Would you like me to sit up here? And I had to learn that through self-

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Mm-hmm.

Todd: reflection and now I think it's one of those things that makes ⁓ gives me a little bit of strength now is that I'm able to kind of adapt to a room, read the room and adapt to it. But if it doesn't start with the self reflection, you know, I would have been selling shoes or something, you know, fifteen years ago. I wouldn't have made it as a principal.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Yeah, yeah. You you definitely have to know yourself to grow yourself. And and then that, you know, ripples outward and you're able to help your team grow, help your team to reflect, help your team to be the best version of who God created them to be as well. But when you're thinking about that, you know that I have the system of hope. So I talk a lot about habits, ⁓ powerful habits like self-reflection, but there's a lot of habits as a leader. That we can cultivate. Are there any specific habits that you would like to share with the leaders that you found to be powerful in that middle school or high school principal role?

Todd: Absolutely. And it's all because I I neglected myself and I put everybody else first. And I put, you know, I I I went to other kids' events instead of my own events. I went to log hours instead of family hours. I answered emails from the dining room table, all those awful things that we say we'll never do, and we'll we did. And I did poorly at it. And the habit that really broke it for me was really scheduling events in my calendar that were important to me, just like I would schedule a faculty meeting. PD. And it was around three different areas. It was around my physical fitness, family, and spiritual time. And so if you look in my calendar right now, tomorrow morning at 5 45, I'm going for a run on the riverwalk. At 6 30, I'm reading the Bible. At 7 o'clock, I'm working on finishing up the Blueprint 2.0, I'm going off to work. Wednesday night, tomorrow night, my wife and I are going out on a date. All of that stuff is scheduled. And so what I found is if I get in the habit of scheduling family events, Sunday, my wife and I are going here, Sunday lunch for the kids. I make sure that I keep those because whatever's in my calendar book, I keep. Like if I've got a meeting with a parent, I keep it. If I've got a meeting with a teacher, I keep it. So what I found was if I schedule those times, then I don't double book myself. no, I can't go to the basketball game because my wife and I are going out tonight. And I'm able to say, no, I can't because I've scheduled that. And while it'll never be balanced like 50-50, because that like implies you know equality, like as an educator, like I think if you can strategically plan family events, fam time with your family, but also physical fitness, like if you're gonna go to the gym, if you're gonna go to hot works, if you're gonna run, and then also going to church, reading the Bible each day, reflecting, taking time for yourself. And then all of those things put together make you a better leader. So I talked about my first year really struggling. Well, I didn't work out. I I neglected my family. I didn't read the Bible. I went to church on Sundays, but I was like, let's get in, get out, because I got a million things I gotta do. And once all of those things came together, once I got right with myself physically, once I got right with myself spiritually, once I got right with my my family, everything else fell into place. God just opened up doors for me that were gave me the words to be able to say. And then when you feel good, when you work out or you run, you're able to accomplish anything. And I'll tell you by by seven o'clock. If you've got three miles in running and you've read the Bible to start your day, you can accomplish anything. Like ⁓ bring it on. Let's go. I I I've already got myself mentally ready. I've got myself spiritually ready. I know tonight my wife and I are gonna go hang out. I know Sunday we got the kids coming over. Like I'm ready for the world. And it was that habit of consistently working out, consistently scheduling things. And I will share with you, today is the twenty third. I have worked out, I have not missed a day in three hundred and eighty-seven days.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: That's awesome.

Todd: So I have not missed that could be hotworks, that could be the gym, or that could be running. And I'm pretty dang proud of that. Yes. ⁓

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Yeah. Yeah. You should be. You should celebrate that. That's that's a big accomplishment. Yeah. And you know, when I talk about habits, I talk about mind, body, spirit. So I'm really glad that you pointed out all of those ways that you're investing in yourself. And the other thing that I like that you just said is your calendar reflects your priorities. on an earlier podcast, one of my guests and I talked about the fact that ⁓ leader once encouraged a man to write down 25 of his priorities and then go back and slash all but five of them. Because if you have too many priorities, you can't focus on any of them well. So you really need to ⁓ clear ⁓ your top five priorities. And then do something like you do. Schedule those priorities. And I love that you're putting your family first I think this is a cultural mindset issue. We have that thought that we have to push harder, ⁓ work more, sacrifice our with our family so that we can be successful. But you don't have to do that. It's a choice. And I think sometimes it requires a mindset shift so that you can shift out of that martyr mentality, if you will, and shift into something that's much more sustainable, which is as you said, getting clear on your priorities and then scheduling those things. Yeah, that's powerful stuff.

Todd: You're absolutely right. I shared with ⁓ a principal the other day who was struggling with attending ⁓ games of his children, ⁓ supervision. It was at the end of the year. And I said, five years from now, not one person or parent is gonna know which administrator supervised a ninth grade football game, except for son. And now it has to be supervised. You have to have somebody there. Can you delegate that to somebody else? And and the conversation really turned to Well, I feel like I need to be there. I feel like parents ⁓ you know expect the principal to be there. And I said, i i communicate your you know, communicate your why to your community through your email and tell stories about your family. And if somebody asks, say, you know what? I've been to three games. I've also got my son playing on the same night, my daughter playing on the same night, and that's important to me. The game was supervised. I'll be at the next game, I'll be at a game down the road. But if you lay that out there, not one parent is gonna say, You know, well, why wasn't the principal there? Now, if you don't go to any games, I can understand that. And if the game's not supervised and there's a problem, there's a problem there. But nobody's gonna remember the principal was at a game five years ago, at a sub varsity football game, even in Texas, where football is game. Except your child. Amen. No.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Yeah. Yeah. Except except child. That's that's absolutely correct. And I think that that is something we need to normalize. We need to normalize putting your family first. Few years back I was at a superintendent's conference here in Illinois. And at that conference, three sitting superintendents had died in the space of it was just a few months. I'll never forget that because that reminded me ⁓ you know a month, two months after they passed away, that superintendent role, it was filled again. But guess what role wasn't filled? Husband, father, brother, ⁓ irreplaceable in your family's life. So prioritize what truly matters. Is there anything that would do differently if you could go back and do it all over again?

Todd: Yeah, a hundred percent. Just what we talked about. you know, I I put everybody else first. And, you know, my my my wife took a back seat to to my career. And ⁓ I'm lucky she stayed with me. You know, I mean, honestly speaking, like, ⁓ know, hey, ⁓ you know, on a night that she cooked dinner, well, you know, 50-50 on whether I came home because ⁓ I felt I had to answer an email or do this and do that when ⁓ might have been important at the moment, but forty-eight hours later it was irrelevant.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Yeah.

Todd: And and I just felt that. And and you brought up a point where where where where did we where did this become the norm that I had to be the first car in the parking lot, the last one to leave, I had to be at every game, I had to be everywhere, and I had to be everything to everybody except the people that mattered the most. And so if I could go back in time, you know, I would not have missed my son's ⁓ football game. I had one son, Texas is is is football, you know, football is king. And I I chose other people's children ⁓ to go supervise games instead of going to his. And he always told me, ⁓ Dad, don't worry about it. You're it no. You know, poor kid had two knee injuries. We've lost part of his high school, you know, career because of knee injuries. And I missed his early games because I thought there'd be time to see him as a as a high school person, and then that didn't happen. And so, you know, if I could go back and do it over again, I would say, you know what, on Thursdays I'm leaving at four o'clock and I'm not working Saturdays, but except the big events. ⁓ and part of me is is, you know, I I I worried that if I delegated stuff to a lot of my assistant principals, like they would be overwhelmed and always look to protect them. And I still think that's extremely important. But part of your role is to delegate them, to put them in positions so that they are able to lead one day as a principal. And it means getting out and doing a lot of the things. And if I could do it over again, this is really where I'll end it. If I could do it over again, like I would go to the basketball game. And as soon as the ball's tossed up in the air, when all the parents flick up, I'd leave. And the assistant principal would be there and people saw me and I'd be out the door. And they'd be like, he was there. And I'd be yep, I went to get popcorn or something. And I'd be out the door. And so I think that would be a strategy that I would use. But again, like I I caution people to say, like, you can't just say I'm not working on Fridays. I'm not doing this because there is a job that has to be done. And we have to make sure that the job is done. So once the job's done, I'd go home.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Todd: And I wouldn't answer emails at home. I'd take care of things. If my superintendent needed me, if you were my superintendent, you're not sending me an email. I don't need to check. You're gonna call me if there's a problem. And I will then take your phone call if there's a problem. But I would build a better divide for me if I could do it all over again.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: we've got to build those margins in our lives so that we can have a family life. Because sometimes, you know, I talk about rest. ⁓ when people think about rest, some people think about sleep. But there's more ways to rest than just sleeping. Some of those is spending time with the people you love most. Sometimes it's spending that family time together, having family dinners or going to church on Sundays, going to ball games. sometimes it's playing together. I mean, there's a lot of different ways that we can rest our minds, bodies, and souls. And it's all very important. So ⁓ really glad that you said that because I ⁓ agree. And and it's the same for me. If I could go back and do anything different, it would be to prioritize creating those healthy margins in life because I modeled that too. I modeled that to the people that were coming up as leaders So ⁓ Todd, one of the last questions that I like to ask all of my guests is what is giving you hope in our world right now?

Todd: ⁓ you know, it's a great question 'cause it's a very it's a messed up world that we're in. ⁓ you turn on the news and and poor kids today, you know, see wars in Iran and they see ⁓ you know, stories about ICE and they got political turmoil and y you just i y you got social media problems, you got all kinds of problems to be a kid. But really what gives me great hope is even with all of that said, what gives me great hope each and every day being around young people. Is feeling like this generation of kids is going to be the change that we need in the world. And I constantly am reminded of that, whether it's a public school or whether it's a parochial school that I work in now with the Archdiocese. It I I am reminded that we have great children in our schools. And they have kids that are idealistic and kids that are that are open to change and kids that are not afraid to stand up and say, that's not okay. And we're gonna do something about that. That just brings me great hope to know because. As adults, we've messed things up. Like we you know, we can't agree on things. We end friendships. We end families because of whether you're a D or you're an R or it just we get on Facebook and we we we we we slam somebody because it's easy to do that. I just really feel that the students that are graduating from schools, and I'll speak to San Antonio, Texas Texas 'cause I'm here, but I imagine this is across the the United States. The kids that are graduating are gonna say enough and we're gonna come together and we're gonna make the change that we need to make our country ⁓ the country that we want it to be again. And we're gonna have people that are gonna solve awful ⁓ diseases, like, you know, hopefully to be able to do that. We're gonna have kindness brought back and we're gonna have empathy brought back. And we're gonna have people that are gonna be like, ⁓ take care of each other. And this is the homeless population. That's not okay. Let's take care of of veterans and let's not I can I can, you know, I let let's take care of police and let's not make it a either they're good or they're bad. Like let's just make this a a country where ⁓ can get along. I'll equate it to this. As a former coach, it's like ⁓ it's like a huddle. Like in a huddle, like on a team, we're cool. Like I want to know you got my back, I got your back, I'll throw you the ball, you catch it, we score, we win, we hug. And then something happens. And like I think that huddle mentality that we have with students ⁓ gonna come out into the world and people are gonna say, nah, he's a good dude. Like we're not gonna beg on him, or that's not okay. And I've had numerous kids at the high school when something is wrong, if an adult does something that's wrong. They call it out, like in a in a in a really polite way. They just say that you can't talk to kids that way. You can't do this that way. And I really just think that spirit is going to be something that five or ten years down the road, we're going to make a turn with our country to where we're back to a unified place. And this isn't a political conversation by any means. This just the hope of these kids coming forward, coming back to church. Like I've seen lots and lots of like the Catholic faith. Like we had an article that I read the other day of just an increased number of people coming back to.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Yeah.

Todd: To religion, like that gives me great hope that people are coming back and looking for God to get answers. Because if we turn to God, and you kind of mentioned it, if we see people the way God intends us to see them, that's it right there. Like that, because God didn't make anything that's not perfect. And if we just live by that standard, and we live by the standard of love your neighbor, not the ones that look like you or the ones that you like. Love all the neighbors. That's so difficult. And so, really, it's that excitement and that hope of kids that are coming.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Mm.

Todd: forward. I was in a Catholic school the last three months of school. And to see kids openly practicing their faith and talking about their faith just gives me great hope that ten years from now, I will be in a good spot when I'm retired, that people are able to take care of me because they're going to take care of this world. That gets me fired up, but that's what gives me great hope.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Yeah. And that is powerful because, you know, you're talking about the school that you're at the last three months of of the school year. I had the honor to go to a Christian private school ⁓ I a book, Spreading Sunshine with Kindness. And it's kind of a legacy project because it was inspired by my first two grandsons, Jensen and Rhett. And I went and did an assembly and an author visit. And ⁓ watching kids worship in that school, I mean, that's powerful to see

Todd: Yeah.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: And I was talking to my pastor today, and we were just talking a little bit about the mission of our church, which is very biblically based. Love God, love people, serve all. If we can get back to that, then we're gonna be okay. And our world is going to be better for it. So I I love that, Todd. That is so powerful. Now, as we're closing out this episode of the Lead with Hope podcast, if our listeners want to get in touch with you. How would they reach out to you, Todd?

Todd: ⁓ all social media platforms, ⁓ probably the easiest. I love Instagram and TikTok. ⁓ never thought a 50-year-old man plus would be a TikToker, but I love to post ⁓ reels. ⁓ so TikTok is ⁓ at Todd underscore bloomer underscore author. And that's TikTok and Instagram. Those are the two that I'm on ⁓ primarily. ⁓ you can hit me up on my website, which is toddmbloomer.com. I've also ⁓ email, which which I shared the two, you can put in the maybe the show notes. But if anybody really wanted to reach out, that is the best way to reach out to connect with me. And then from there, I've had a lot of people reach out via social media for the Uber Light Coaching. You know, I boom, I hit yep, we we we set up a time to talk. We set up a time to Zoom. ⁓ I I I'm out on the road right now this summer. ⁓ kind of exciting working with some schools and working with some some ⁓ through whether it be Zoom or in person. So that's been really exciting. And if you're out there and you're listening and this message resonates you and you'd love to connect. I'd love to ⁓ come talk to your school. I've got a a keynote, which is finding your blueprint to success, which is everything we just talked about, like taking care of yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually, what happens when you face a little bit of adversity, and then making sure you're mentally prepared to do the job. And it really resonates with a lot of people. ⁓ it mixes in a little bit of the biblical and spiritual stuff, which is really resonated with people a lot. And so if anybody's out there that would like to, I'd love to connect to talk to you about that. And if anybody comes to San Antonio, Texas and I can show off my great city, I would be honored to do that also.

Dr. Brandi Kelly: Well, Todd, thank you for coming on the show today. I've really enjoyed our conversation and let's stay in touch and we'll see where this crazy adventure called life takes us. All right. Take care.

Todd: Let's go.